A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The first bloodline Erik received from Elora was the Raiju bloodline, granting him a lightning affinity and a boost in physical strength. It took him a full seven years to fully integrate this bloodline, as he was barely a first-rank at the time and Elora was still learning his genetic makeup.

After arriving on Earth, Elora offered him a choice: continue with the Winter Wolf bloodline, for ice affinity and increased endurance, or the Bakaneko bloodline, for shadow affinity and enhanced speed and agility.

In the end, he chose the Winter Wolf for its future benefits. Now, he was glad he did, as it allowed him to develop the thundersnow affinity. He hadn't missed the added speed and agility so far, especially since his new spatial affinity compensated for his relatively low speed.

Which meant that, in order to compete with Frostfang, Erik was most in need of agility and strength.

Fortunately, at the end of their eleven-month training session, Erik could get another bloodline infusion. The Winter Wolf bloodline took a year to fully integrate, and they spent a month traveling to their new home before starting the training session.

Initially, the Bakaneko bloodline was planned to be next, but it offered no immediate benefits. Erik had resolved his speed problem, and while shadow could provide some interesting interactions with his ice, he needed a short-term boost to compete with third-rankers.

Thus, Elora came with another bloodline: the Thunder Wings Ice Serpent. A creature that possessed the thundersnow affinity.

While this meant that Erik didn't get a new affinity out of the deal, that wasn't actually much of a disadvantage. Currently, he was already dividing his attention between the powerful affinities of space and thundersnow. Which meant he really couldn't afford to advance a third as well.

Besides, while unable to give him the thundersnow affinity again, this bloodline did increase his understanding, and current ranking, in the thundersnow affinity.

Most importantly, however, this particular serpent was known for both its agility and strength. Precisely the traits Erik needed to improve upon right now.

And, as an added benefit, Elora had informed him that having this bloodline would prime his body to start receiving actual dragon bloodlines as soon as this new one had fully integrated.

The downside was that the Thunder Wings Ice Serpent, being a powerful creature with a rare affinity, was also entirely unrelated to wolves. Thus, it would take a full ten years to integrate.

But none of that really mattered, because right now, Erik was able to use his increased strength and agility, combined with his spatial affinity, to defend himself from Frostfang's attacks.

And it was driving the man crazy.

On their battlefield, the sound of Erik's freezing aura competing with Frostfang's blizzard roared in everyone's ears and obstructed the crowd's vision. Only the two combatants could hear the constant clashing of Frostfang's icy claws with the metal of Erik's hammer.

Frostfang couldn't understand what was going on. He was a third-ranker, yet somehow unable to break through the defense of this brat?! It was infuriating, made worse by the fact that Erik's confident grin never left his face. As if this was all a breeze to him.

Unfortunately, that wasn't entirely true. Erik constantly needed to predict where Frostfang would be before he got there, as he wasn't yet fast enough with the spatial displacement ability to use it instantly.

Still, it was important for him to pretend he was having an easy time. He was trying to lure his opponent into making a mistake by increasing his irritation.

As the third-ranker's frustration grew, the snarl on his face became more pronounced, and his movements became wilder, more chaotic, and… more impatient.

Finally, Frostfang left an opening in his defense. Erik quickly lost his grin, putting all his focus on his next actions. His heartbeat slowed, and everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Frostfang's claws came from both sides, aiming for Erik's transformed face, seemingly leaving no avenue for escape or defense. But Frostfang was also putting his entire weight behind this attack. If it didn't hit, he'd be in trouble.

Fortunately for Erik, his opponent still hadn't figured out his new affinity.

Thus, he didn't even try to defend. Instead, he began charging a concussive lightning blast and seemed to take a swing at empty space.

Frostfang frowned, not taking Erik for the kind to suddenly lose his mind. Yet, he didn't halt his attack. He was too impatient and frustrated.

Roaring, he intended to end this fight here and now, but just as his claws were about to hit, Erik shifted again.

Frostfang's eyes widened in shock. His attack didn't hit a target, causing him to stumble forward and be unable to react in time when he noticed Erik had appeared just a few steps to the right.

He could only watch as Erik's hammer swing was suddenly aimed right at his side, a powerful lightning blast crackling on its head.

Yet, before it could hit, Frostfang howled, and suddenly, all the spikes on his body shot out, straight at Erik.

Erik's eyes widened, and he scowled a little. Yet, he was unwilling to test the durability of his new armor against this attack. Thus, he detonated the lightning blast early, causing most of the ice spikes to be blasted away.

Meanwhile, his swing continued, and soon made contact with its target. It was a powerful swing, with all his strength behind it, and while no longer supported by the lightning blast, still packed quite a punch.

When the hammer struck, bones crackled, and Frostfang howled in pain before skidding a few meters through the snow.

At the same time, the remaining spikes reached Erik. There was no time to use displacement, so instead he raised his armor's helmet, closed his eyes, and hoped for the best.

Thud Thud Thud

He felt each spike impact his armor and push him back a little. But, thankfully, no pain came.

Sighing in relief, he opened his eyes and retracted the helmet to see he had become a pin cushion. Ten spikes had made their way through his thundersnow aegis, and buried themselves half an inch into his armor. Yet, none had actually reached him. Thus, he smirked and wiped away the spikes.

There was one person far less pleased than him, however. "Look what that asshole did to my new home!" echoed an indignant Eira through Erik's head. "Teach him a lesson, Master!"

"Don't worry, Eira. I will," Erik chuckled through their bond. "And your home is fine. The Auto-repair sigils will take care of it in a few day's time."

"Hmpf, Hmpf," Eira grumbled and snorted. "Why don't I punch a few holes in your home for a few days and see how you like it?"

The usually cheery construct had grown quite attached to—and protective of—her new medium.

Erik chuckled, but quickly refocused on the battle. His conversation with Eira took less than a second, so Frostfang was still reeling from the attack, and had even spat out a little bit of blood, while Erik remained unharmed.

Since his opponent was still reeling, Erik decided it was time to push the advantage. Opening his wolfish maw wide, a pulsing, white orb started taking shape inside. Icy lightning bolts ran across it's surface, and a storm of tiny, electrified grains of snow raged within.

But, Frostfang noticed Erik's actions and realized he likely wouldn't be able to dodge what ever attack Erik was about to launch at him. Thus, he used his trump card.

Frostfang's eyes flashed, and suddenly, two teeth filled maws of ice separated from his face, one after the other, and flew at Erik.

This ability was the reason for his moniker 'Frostfang' and also a rare Runebound ranged ability.

There were coming at Erik with extreme speed and would probably hit him before he could launch his own ability.

Still, Erik refused to back down. This was a golden opportunity to hit his opponent with his strongest ability, and he'd be damned if he was going to miss it.

The icy maws were flying straight at his head, but Erik couldn't raise his helmet without having to interrupt his ability. Nor could he use another ability while charging this one. Thus, he raised his arms and, just when the maws were about to latch on to his face, used spatial displacement to place his arms in front of them.

Crunch Crunch

The maws bit down on his arms with far more strength than the spikes hit him with, biting straight through both his thundersnow aegis, and the armor underneath, into his arms.

Pain radiated through his limbs and into his brain, but Erik refused to budge or even scream. After all, his mouth was occupied. Still, his face twitched.

Fortunately, both Elora and Eira quickly interceded by using the armor's healing sigils, and Elora's healing magic to start relieving his pain.

At the same time, Erik howled, and finally released his attack, essentially spitting it out of his mouth, and at Frostfang.

The white orb sped through the air. A scowl appeared on Frostfang's face as he watched it approach but was still finding his footing after Erik's hammer blow.

He was unable to dodge.

Boom.

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